Shaun Clair has seen the future of rock & roll, and it’s a 3D pig. Starting in the Sixties, Clair Global, the company co-founded by Clair’s grandfather, has provided sound systems for major rock tours, from Elton John’s and the Stones’ up through more recent ones like Roger Waters’ The …
Read More »Kanye West and His Manager Will Submit Official Demands to Labels 'Really Soon'
Kanye West has been flooding Twitter for the last week with a sprawling rant against record companies and modern music deals, demanding that artists are given control over their own masters — and peppering photos of his home furniture and quotes from the Bible into the tweetstorm as well. Some …
Read More »Want to Be the Next Big Rock Producer? Buckle Up
Carlos de la Garza can “count on one hand” the number of alternative rock records being green-lit by major labels right now. De la Garza, a drummer-turned-producer who also mixes and engineers and has worked with everyone from Bad Religion to Best Coast, remembers a more lucrative time: 10 to …
Read More »To Get a Record Deal Right Now, You'd Better Ooze Presence Over Zoom
Signing an artistto a record deal is a lot like dating, says Pete Ganbarg, president of A&R over at Atlantic Records. But Ganbarg — who has brought in Twenty One Pilotsand Christina Perri, as well as the blockbuster cast albums/soundtracks to Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, and The Greatest Showman —says …
Read More »Indie Artists Have More Power Than Ever in Sweden. Could Covid-19 Lockdown Take the Trend Global?
On March 11th, as global measures to stop the spread of Covid-19 began to escalate, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a ban on travel from mainland Europe to the United States. In a different era, this would have spelled troubling news for the entire Swedish music industry — which has …
Read More »Future 25: Mr. Eazi, Artist-Entrepreneur
Africa is the second-biggest continent on the planet. Yet “there is no company in the world solely committed to servicing African music,” says Mr. Eazi, the Nigerian star who has collaborated with Beyonce and Diplo. The singer is aiming to plug this hole with emPawa, a company that identifies talented …
Read More »Taylor Swift's 'Lover' Is a Guaranteed Success
As Taylor Swift prepares to release Lover on Friday, she is returning to a pop world that has undergone profound changes. “Before it was a push business,” ace songwriter Savan Kotecha (Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber) explained in 2018. “Labels would push an act on a TV show, an award show, …
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